BELGRADE, Serbia -- The European Union is to decide whether to accept Serbia along with its mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province or recognize an independent Kosovo.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said the EU must choose whether to sign an agreement with Serbia that would lead it to the Brussels club, or deploy an EU mission in Kosovo that would lead to supervised independence from Serbia, the Serbian news agency Tanjug reported Friday.

The EU and Serbia initialed the Stabilization and Association Agreement in November and are expected to fully sign it late this month, the EU Observer said.

In a published statement, Kostunica warned the EU to make a choice whether it wants the whole, internationally recognized Serbia for its partner, or it wants to create an independent Kosovo as a quasi-state on Serbian territory.

Leaders of Kosovo Albanians insist on independence from Belgrade, while Serbia wants to keep Kosovo as its autonomous province.

Kosovo has been U.N.-governed territory since 1999 when NATO air raids stopped attacks by Serbian security forces on ethnic-Albanian separatists.

NATO peacekeepers have been deployed in Kosovo since 1999 to curb ethnic conflicts.